Buying a laptop

**Desley** · May 30, 2011, 05:06 AM

Hey guys,

My grandpa wants to buy me a new laptop. It can cost 900euros max.

Im looking for a laptop which isnt very heavy (so I can take it to school).
And this laptop should be able to play all new games on medium settings and preferable high settings.

I found the alienware laptop quite nice but it has such a small screen

Second one I found was this 1 : http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/Versat...specifications

I really dont know much about computers and its all hocus spocus to me.. so can you guys help me find a good laptop?

Preferable I would like a laptop which I can buy in the Netherlands (so not from a small company from asia or something)

**GasMask** · May 30, 2011, 06:10 AM

MSI GT680
ASUS K42JY
ASUS N53SN-XV1
ASUS N53JQ-XC1
Acer Aspire Ethos 8943G
ACER FERRARI SERIES.

All between 700-1100 Euro.

**Desley** · May 30, 2011, 07:13 AM

Thank you for your reply, however 900euros + is too expensive

**Magefsx** · May 30, 2011, 11:11 AM

I'd look into toshiba or sony vaio for that price range- you can check the graphic card benchmarks by simply copying the name of the card into google, and picking the notebookcheck website. Both are reliable brands, and on a toshiba 17x (discontinued though), I'm able to run ETW on ultra (albeit with no ssao and AA on 2x or 4x)
These look like a possibility: http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.c...eries/1103830/
At a second glance, I'd strongly recommend them- the first one is what I would go with, and is in your price range

**karamazovmm** · May 30, 2011, 02:00 PM

fill this in please;

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

2) What size notebook would you prefer?
a. Netbook; 10” screen or less
b. Ultraportable; 11" - 12” screen
c. Thin and Light; 13" - 14" screen
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen
3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?
a. Like:
b. Dislike:

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. Click here for Screen resolution information.

13) Do you want a Glossy/reflective screen or a Matte/non-glossy screen?

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

15) When are you buying this laptop?

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

**Desley** · May 30, 2011, 04:06 PM

Hey guys, thanks for your replys. I have already decided though (90%sure)..

http://icecat.co.uk/p/asus/n53sv-sz0...v-7789631.html

What do you guys think of this laptop?

**Magefsx** · May 30, 2011, 04:59 PM

I'd still go for the toshiba, as they are renouned for reliability. I'm over 1.5 years in with mine, and havn't had a hitch.
They're pretty much identical though (toshiba has a smaller HDD and less RAM.
How much does this one cost- and be aware that it only has 2 usb ports.... not exactly a huge amount, by any means

**Pantsalot** · May 30, 2011, 05:50 PM

My sister's Toshiba laptop battery went faulty within the first year of her getting it so now it only has 10mins
worth of life, so they're not ENTIRELY reliable, but she's had it for 3 years now without any other problems
at all so that should count for a lot.

Though looking at that laptop that Desley has found it seems perfectly good, it's graphics card should be able
to play all current games at the very least medium detail, high resolution with just 15.6", core i7, 6gb RAM etc.
Issues are VERY minor such as not having Wireless 802.11 N.

Looking on Amazon UK it costs £729.99, about €841.39 so within price range.

Shouldn't be any harm in making a more refined search for a better laptop

**karamazovmm** · May 30, 2011, 10:40 PM

I would grab the dv6 quad edition with the 6770m (1gb) with the matte FHD screen. Currently this is the best 15'' mainstream laptop out there.

There are other options, I would avoid the N series from asus, the build quality is quite poor, the K series seem to be better, I would also avoid the U series from asus as well.

There is the piss poor xps 15, which in my book is only a screen since its the only thing that is worth mentioning

the best value for you might be the np5160 from sager (get from a retailer like kobalt, devitech, eurocom), it can be configured to a FHD display (some resellers have the same display that the xps 15 have, only a higher quality one, its a matte 95% gamut FHD screen), it supports quads and can be had with a gt 540m, there is also another model (cant remember the number) that supports the gt 555m. However, this is not the good gt 555m (there are 4 models, the best version is only available at dell, m14x and xps 17, its a 144 core with a DDR3 192 bit bandwidth, the version that you are going to get if Im not mistaken is the 96 core GDDR5 128 bit, basically a gt 540m with GDDR5)

If the budget was higher I would vouch for the vaio SB for the added mobility and gaming competence with the 6630m in a 13'' chassis, and no it wont overheat.

There are some cheap acer from the aspire series, that might offer a good config, however build quality would suffer.

You could drool on the NP8150 from sager, it packs up to a i7 2920xqm and a gtx 485m, up to 16gb (some are trying to get up to 32gb, since it packs 4 ram slots)

**Jaketh** · May 30, 2011, 11:03 PM

If this fits what your looking for ill sell you mine for 950 USD, i dont need it anymore and its not even a year old

**Pantsalot** · May 31, 2011, 06:16 AM

Originally Posted by Mr MM

There are some cheap acer from the aspire series, that might offer a good config, however build quality would suffer.

My other sister has a Acer Aspire laptop, it's a perfect build for her, sturdy & lightweight & plays all the games
she likes at the highest graphics (I'm not sure how well it plays the likes of STW2 or Crysis though).

The one she got was £699 for the laptop with free delivery(offer only to UK I believe) but we paid for pre-
installation.

**karamazovmm** · May 31, 2011, 07:11 AM

Originally Posted by Pantsalot

My other sister has a Acer Aspire laptop, it's a perfect build for her, sturdy & lightweight & plays all the games
she likes at the highest graphics (I'm not sure how well it plays the likes of STW2 or Crysis though).

The one she got was £699 for the laptop with free delivery(offer only to UK I believe) but we paid for pre-
installation.

the build quality of the aspire line is still worse than dell inspiron line. here is a quick list (from great to worse):

thinkpads (real ones X, W, T)

Elitebooks

Precision

Latittude

Probooks

Thinkpad Edge

Vaio S

Vostro

Envy

Pavillion

Vaio F

Vaio Z ( I only put this here because it bends more than a kama sutra illustration)

Timeline X

XPS

Asus G

Asus N

Asus U

Aspire

Here is a quick thing regarding build quality:

**Pantsalot** · May 31, 2011, 08:57 AM

The Dell laptops my family has bought barely last 2 years, I think they even got rid of the free warranties
that they used to include with every laptop, now you have to pay for them.

Plus my brother's Dell laptop had this annoying problem where when he pressed his cap lock key it would minimise anything
he was doing (including games) & show a little picture showing him that it was on, took a long while before we could figure
out how to get rid of that & it involved delving into the registries.

**karamazovmm** · May 31, 2011, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Pantsalot

The Dell laptops my family has bought barely last 2 years, I think they even got rid of the free warranties
that they used to include with every laptop, now you have to pay for them.

Plus my brother's Dell laptop had this annoying problem where when he pressed his cap lock key it would minimise anything
he was doing (including games) & show a little picture showing him that it was on, took a long while before we could figure
out how to get rid of that & it involved delving into the registries.

it actually depends on the dell laptop, as you can see I listed the precisions and lattitude pretty high, however the inspiron line is pure *****, the xps is a little better, but you are filled with various issues, there is always some quirks in there.

like when the xps m series had the nvidia problem, and overheating issues with the m13xx, or when the sxps 16 had the overheating problem, throttling issues, or when the xps 15 had bad keyboards and poor build quality, the materials are not what are advertised..... and this goes on.

HP had its fare share of issues, like the HDX line being a pile of overheating components, and the pavilion line being poorly built and overheating issues as well.

Basically for me, you want a laptop, get the cash for a laptop. Its going to be more expensive, its going to be less powerful, but you get mobility. Im not going to buy anything from consumer lines for a while, unless they are premium, this sounds a lot like Im a big douche, however its a statement that if I need the mobility, I need the laptop to last while we are using on the go, I dont want mine to overheat, I dont want it to be filled with compromises (or more that I want to make).

For example I bought a cheap msi, its got quite a punch in terms of gpu, it plays what i throw at it without complaining, however the plastic around one of my hinges broke last month, the notebook bends considerably, there is a lot of keyboard flex, the keyboard itself is a nightmare to type on (although I love the numpad), the paint is peeling of on the hinges. Yeah its not going to last as much as my lenovo from before, which lasted 3 years, and its now back in business

**karamazovmm** · May 31, 2011, 08:58 PM

thats why I said dv6.

and confess its just cool that the x1 survived that fall

**Bolkonsky** · May 31, 2011, 09:04 PM

Neat vid.

On to the point - I love my dv6 (And Mr MM for the recommendation.) Great overall laptop, especially for my budget. I can play Bad Company 2 on high with no issues at all, as well as Assassin's Creed 2, and ArmA 2 (all on high with ~40 fps) and The Witcher 2 on medium settings.